Kuala Lumpur, Aug. 4 (Reuters): The countries of east Asia should give a proper name to their regional group and stop hiding behind the title “Asean plus three”, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said today.

The 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and their northeast Asian neighbours — China, Japan and Korea — hold an annual summit in Bali in October.

Mahathir said he would like to see the group re-named as the East Asian Economic Group.